They soon arrived at where the relay had once been, but it was gone. There was also debris from a battle between the Trillond Navy and the Allith.
Chapter 18: Uppity Trillond
“Reaper, I’m being hailed by the Trillond Corvette. I’m going to connect you into the com,” E’Aria said.
“A’Ranna, shut the door please,” Reaper said. “Go ahead, E’Aria, let’s hear what they have to say.”
“This is Lieutenant Aok of the Colonial Marines,” E’Aria said into the com.
The com crackled. “This is Captain J’Ama of the Trillond Navy. We are going to commandeer your vessels in the name of the Trillond Alliance.”
“A’Ranna, flip those three levers over to your right on the weapons panel,” Reaper asked.
“Captain J’Ama,” E’Aria said, “we have survivors of an Allith prison camp on Hyson and the mining colony has been totally destroyed. We have five survivors from there. What do you plan to do with these citizens of the Alliance?” The coms were quiet for a few moments.
“It is unfortunate, but we will have to leave them here until help arrives.” A’Ranna was looking at Reaper with a worried face. He was dressing in his armor as the lieutenant and captain were casually talking. He slipped on his helmet.
“E’Aria, target the bridge with your weapons and put me on the com,” he said. “A’Ranna, put that red circle on your screen right there.” He pointed to the bridge of the ship on the screen.
“Why are your weapons armed, Lieutenant?” the captain yelled. “You will power them down, and that is an order.”
“Captain, you have no authority to order me to do anything,” E’Aria said. “My commander has ordered our weapons armed.”
“Who is your commander? Let me speak to this person.” E’Aria put Reaper on the vid.
“Captain, my name is Reaper,” Ben said.” If you think I won’t finish what the Allith started, you are sorely mistaken. You will commandeer nothing. The lieutenant and I didn’t risk our lives stealing these ships and rescuing these people just to hand the ships over and leave them stranded on a dead ship. What is the status of your ship, Captain? What is your chief engineer doing to get you moving?”
“Reaper, or whatever your name is,” the captain said angrily, “my ship or its status doesn’t concern you.”
“That’s fine, Captain. We’ll be leaving now. Lieutenant, let’s move.”
“You’ll go nowhere,” the captain ordered.
“What’s the status, Captain? I won’t ask again.”
“Our chief is dead and the assistant is doing his best but getting nowhere.”
“It just so happens, Captain, that I have the best engineer in the Colonial Military. I will give you a hour of her time if you give a hour of your chief medical officer’s time to look at my passengers. I need an answer right now, Captain, or we are leaving.”
“Two hours,” the captain said
“Captain,” Ben said, “my lieutenant will know in one hour or less. If she needs a second hour, we will discuss it — and Captain, don’t do anything stupid. My lieutenant will be armed and has my permission to defend herself by any means necessary. You try to harm her, I will come aboard and kill you first.” Reaper killed the com to the Corvette.
“You have a lot of faith in me,” E’Aria said.
“I do, you know that,” Ben told her. “But I also wanted a medical officer to look at these people from the colony. Whether you can fix his ship or not, I will at least get these people some medical attention. I meant what I told him. Anyone even looks like a threat, you shoot them first then yell for me. You have an advantage; use it.”
“A’Ranna, gather everyone in the cargo bay.” Reaper looked the colony survivors over as he waited for the rest to show.
“Listen up everyone,” he said, “we’re going to be docking with a Trillond Corvette.” A number of them got excited enough for Reaper to notice.
“It’s not what you think,” he continued. “It has been damaged in a battle. The captain wants me to leave you all on his broken ship while he takes our shuttle to safety.”
Their smiles turned to frowns. “I’m not going to let that happen. What we are going to do is give them one hour of help for their engineer to get a handle on their problems. In return, we are going to get a visit from their medical officer. I want these five looked at first. It’s going to be a long ride to safety. The Allith are ahead of us, destroying whatever they can. A’Ranna will be in charge if I have to leave the ship.”
“E’Aria,” he said to her, “can we dock the shuttle to their airlock and then dock the gunship to the shuttle? I will be able to guard both if we can do that.”
E’Aria docked the shuttle with the Corvette, but Reaper didn’t open the door. She docked her gunboat with the shuttle; he opened that airlock and let her in. The family he had saved from Hyson was behind her. The kids ran past her and grabbed Reaper around the waist, hugging him. The rest of the people on his ship watched as he bent down and hugged them back.
“Are you two following orders and helping E’Aria with the ship?” he asked. They looked at him like they didn’t know how to answer.
“She hasn’t given us any orders,” one said.
“Well, I have a order for you. You see that boy over there? He lost his father to the Allith and doesn’t know where his mother or brother is. Why don’t you keep him company for me? If I have to leave the ship, you take him and keep him safe.”
Ben stood, smiling. “Lieutenant, you’re up. Go get that derelict moving.” Ben walked over and opened the airlock door, then opened the outer door. There were four Trillond crewmen waiting. He stepped out and they backed up.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the assistant engineer,” one answered hurriedly, “and this is our chief medical officer and his assistants.”
“Lieutenant Aok will follow you,” Ben said. “Just so you remember, I know what you look like. Anything happens to her, and you’ll be the second one floating in space.” The medical types didn’t know what to think. Lieutenant Aok walked up to them.
“Go on and follow him. He won’t hurt you.” Reaper turned and walked back into the ship. They walked in, saw all the Trillond survivors and felt a little more at ease.
A’Ranna led them to the colony survivors and walked back over to Ben dragging a bag.
“I’m going to put this on their ship.” She smiled and winked at him. The soiled clothes were rank. He laughed and told her to get rid of the bag.
As the medical staff started asking the survivors questions, it became apparent that some Allith were still on Hyson.
He heard the medical staff asking the survivors questions.
“And you escaped?” one staff member asked.
“We’re here, aren’t we? What kind of question is that?” an older Trillond man said. “You people work and I will tell you the story. No more questions.” He looked over at Reaper for permission and Reaper nodded.
“We were all being held in a group at an office complex where they had set up their command,” the man began. “We got a message that help would be coming and to be ready. It was dark, and then it started to rain and became even darker. We didn’t see him right away, but we saw one of the lizards explode, then another and another. He was coming towards us alone, shooting them where they stood. He didn’t miss one. They tried to hide and he shot them through walls. Then his lieutenant came flying in with two ships’ guns firing and blew up the command building. She lowered the ramp and we all ran for our lives while he shot the lizards behind us. We were all on board when one of their ships headed straight for us. He took his gun and shot into the same spot over and over until the ship turned and blew up. He got us fed and bathed and in a real bunk for the night. He was on one ship and she was on the other with a female and two children he had saved earlier. He was only still on Hyson because he jumped off his own shuttle to save his lieutenant. Then we went to the asteroid colony and it was blown to pieces,
except for those five who were in a connecting tube with airlocks. We landed a ship on each end and saved them. Then we come here and find you military types floating in space. Your captain wants to take our ships and he told him he wasn’t getting them. When you go back, if your captain has decided to do something against us, you might want to relieve him from command. Just some friendly advice. Unless you don’t like your captain; then just let him do whatever he is thinking. That one over there? He kills lizard men with his knife for fun. Just so you know.”
Reaper was smiling under his helmet. The old man had the story pretty straight and had added just enough spunk to have the all the med staff in awe. The kids must have been talking about how he had saved them and their mother.
Reaper was standing back in the shadows of the door. Looking in from the Corvette it was just dark. He could see into the Corvette just fine.
E’Aria, I have four inbound with weapons. Watch your back, he thought.
So far no problems here, she thought back.
How’s their ship? Are you able to do anything?
Yes, we will have sub-light online in about fifteen.
“A’Ranna, move everyone back now!” Ben ordered. A’Ranna, jumped into action moving people out of the firing line.
The first Trillond crewman had his pistol out in front of him. He walked into the ship and immediately saw the crowd. A big black fist connected with his jaw and down he went. Ben grabbed the next crewman by the arm and pinned him to the door while kicking the third in the stomach. He went down, taking the fourth with him. He gave an uppercut the one he was holding and down he went. He stepped on the hand holding the pistol of the third man, smashing his fingers, and put his katana to the neck of number four.
“Let go of your weapons and get your asses up, or I will cut you up into little pieces,” he growled. A’Ranna picked up a pistol from one of the men who were out on the floor. She held it on the two of them. A couple of the survivors grabbed the unconscious men and dragged them farther into the cargo bay.
“Chief, come here,” Reaper said. The chief walked over, visibly shaking. “Do you have something in your bag to make someone sleep?” Ben asked.
“Yes I do,” the chief said.
“Give these four whatever it is and put them out. If anything else happens, I don’t want to worry about my back. It will keep them from getting hurt or dead, so do it now.”
The chief made them lie down and gave them each a pill and some water. A’Ranna watched over them until they were all snoring. Reaper was still at the door watching. He could see more men approaching. They looked wounded and were holding weapons.
“Chief, get over here,” Reaper said, exasperated. “Would the captain send wounded men to fight?” The chief looked at the ones approaching. He was shocked.
“Reaper,” he said, “try not to hurt them. I’m not sure what’s going on yet.”
One of the approaching crew spoke up.
“The captain sent us to find out what happened to our crewmates, sir.”
“Lay your weapons down and get in here,” the chief said. They put the pistols down on the deck and walked in. They never saw Reaper behind them in the shadow, until one of them turned and screamed, falling down and scooting backwards. They scattered into the crowd, who stood around smiling.
“Calm them down, chief, and sit them down over by their crewmates.” Ben stepped back into the shadow, watching.
E’Aria started giving him a report. I have the sub-light online, as well as shields and weapons. I have locked out the weapons until we are far from them and in FTL again. I helped the assistant engineer with getting the fabrication going on the parts he needs for their FTL drives. Once he has those done, he should be able to install and get them started.
Get back here then, Ben thought back, and let’s get out of here. I will brief the chief medical officer and he can tell the captain.
The chief was talking to two of his staff. He walked over to Reaper.
“Do you think you can take two of my staff with you?” he asked.
“It’s possible,” Ben said, “but let me tell you what’s going on before you make that decision. My lieutenant has got your sub-light engines online, as well as your shields and weapons. She has helped your engineer get the fab going to make the parts for your FTL drives. If your captain can stick to an out-of-the-way course, you may make it safely home. If he takes the regular shipping lane course, you may be lizard food. So do you still want to part with your crew?”
“Their enlistment is up,” the chief replied. “I’m going to sign their discharge papers, if you’ll take them. Truth is, they would rather take their chances getting home with you than on that ship.”
Reaper was still standing in the shadow as he talked to the chief. He could see a single Trillond with a pistol easing his way to the airlock.
“Chief,” Reaper said. “Go stand over by your people.” Everyone could sense what was going on and waited quietly to see what happened.
Just like the rest of his crew, the captain walked into the cargo bay and immediately focused on the crowd. He pointed his pistol at his chief medical officer.
“What is this, a desertion?”
“No, Captain, we were just leaving,” the chief said. The wounded got up and started following the chief.
“You’re not going anywhere. We have enough people; let’s take this ship,” the captain growled. He pointed the pistol at the Hyson survivors.
The punch took him in the side of the head and lifted him off the floor. He fell like a sack of potatoes. Reaper bent down and took the pistol from his hand. He grabbed one arm and dragged him off the ship and into the hall. He told the two who were leaving the ship to carry the captain to his quarters and lay him down. E’Aria was walking back when she saw them lift the captain and head away with him. She walked into the cargo bay and looked around.
“Anyone dead?”
“No,” Ben answered with a small, proud smile.
You can ask them all — I went easy on the crew and captain.”
“What about those four?” She gestured to the ones he had knocked out.
“Just sleeping,” he said, turning. “Will some of you help carry the sleeping men off the ship and then bring back supplies? We are taking on two more passengers.”
“We are?” E’Aria asked.
“Yes, two of the medical staff are at the end of their enlistment. They want to go on with us instead of the Corvette. Would you like one of them on the gunboat with you, Lieutenant?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I would, just in case.”
“No problem.” The family he had saved went back to the gunboat. They had the orphan boy with them. The others were getting set up, and all the crew from the Corvette, except the chief, was off his ship. They put the colony survivors in the new cots, stacked the supplies against the wall and strapped them down.
“Chief,” Reaper said, “if you could get your com officer to send this message for us I would appreciate it. Address: CNS Warhammer. Attention: Captain Aisling O’Shaughnessy and Major Andrea Andersen. This is Reaper. The lieutenant is alive and we are working our way to colonial space in two ships with survivors from Hyson and the Trillond Mining Colony. We are going to be following the Asmoss asteroid belt. Please advise.
“I would advise you to do the same, Chief. Lock the captain up, put the first officer in charge and get the Corvette and its crew safely home.”
E’Aria got all her people aboard and then detached from the shuttle. Reaper locked up the shuttle and detached. She started up the slave program and lined the ships up and took off at half sub-light.
A’Ranna was on the bridge, reading the manuals and learning what she could. The old man who told the story had taken charge of the back of the ship. They had their bunk rotation down, as well as the meal schedule. They would creep along for a few days, then find a place to go FTL. E’Aria had given the chief their com codes, so if their message did get through the Warhammer co
uld contact them.
Two days gone from the Corvette, they were able to cut through the asteroid belt and go FTL towards Colonial space. Three days in FTL, they got the message they wanted to see: rendezvous coordinates with the Warhammer.
Chapter 19: Reunion
Andrea sat in the captain’s state room. She was looking over some mission logs but couldn’t concentrate. They would be coming out of FTL and meeting Ben and E’Aria in about a hour. How had he pulled this one off? she thought.
The Trillond wanted to meet the team who had saved the Survivors of Hyson, as they were now called, and a Trillond mining colony. The whole team would be honored, but their names would not be given out. The general had to deflect the focus from Ben. They would all get accommodations.
After being absent a week, she really missed him. She couldn’t wait until the night, when she could have him all to herself. She hoped there would be no early meetings so they could sleep in.
The captain was at her desk, writing reports and answering requests.
“We got off easy on Hyson,” the captain said to Andrea as she sat daydreaming.
“What do you mean?” Andrea asked, emerging from her thoughts.
“That battle cruiser never really engaged us. They were holding back for some reason. The Allith have been raiding through the system, hitting easy targets. I think the owners of the battle cruiser are just using them to create diversions. We may see a real invasion in the future when the Allith have served their purpose,” the captain explained.
“Have any other battle cruisers been reported from anywhere besides Hyson?” Andrea asked.
“None that I have seen a report on, but not being seen doesn’t mean they aren’t hiding out there somewhere,” the captain said. Andrea was asking a lot of questions to try and keep her mind off of Ben, she thought.
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper Page 25
